A team of Saudi and Iraqi experts has begun searching for the remains of a Saudi pilot downed in Iraq during the 1991 Gulf war, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Sunday.
The team entered Iraqi territory Saturday and "was continuing on Sunday to set up a plan and a timetable for the operation in a desert area," a Red Cross source told AFP.
The team made initial preparations at a meeting Thursday and Friday in the Saudi town of Ar'ar near the Iraqi border.
Baghdad told Saudi officials in 1997 that the remains of the pilot had been found in 1997. It said an Iraqi officer had buried the body, but that Iraq wanted to repatriate it.
The two countries agreed in June to go ahead with a search for the remains, but the mission was delayed by the extreme summer heat.
Baghdad and Riyadh have not had diplomatic relations since Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1991 -- BAGHDAD (AFP)
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